In known magneto generators, a permanent magnet and its pole pieces are cast integral to the rotating magnet wheel (rotor). The pole pieces extend to the periphery of the rotor and magnetically interact with the legs of an armature for a capacitor type ignition system through an air gap (DE-OS No. 17 63 306). The polarity of the permanent magnet and the circuitry of the ignition system is so designed that only when the rotor has the desired direction of rotation is the ignition capacitor charged from a charging coil of the ignition armature and then discharged at the ignition time to generate the spark. The discharge is effected by causing an electrical switch in the discharge circuit of the capacitor to be switched to the conductive state by a control voltage generated in the ignition coil or armature.
An additional armature may readily be added to such a magneto generator if this is required for other electrical loads in the vehicle as, for example, the lighting system or a storage battery.
A magneto generator whose stator has a plurality of windings or coils for separate energization of, on the one hand, the ignition system and, on the other hand, electrical loads, is known from De-OS No. 24 15 465. A rotor having a plurality of pole pairs is provided to increase the output power of the generator. However, such a magneto generator has the disadvantage that increasing the number of pole pairs also increases the frequency of ignition. This is particularly undesirable for one cylinder engines since misfiring will result.